Snapdeal Appoints Jason Kothari as FreeCharge CEO

E-commerce firm Snapdeal on Monday announced the appointment of Jason Kothari as the Chief Executive Officer of its digital payment platform FreeCharge and a commitment to invest an additional $20 million (roughly Rs. 131 crores) in the company.

"Jason is a strong, strategic and versatile business leader and entrepreneur, who has already been the CEO of two successful companies.

In addition to taking on the role of CEO, Jason will continue his key leadership role as Chief Strategy and Investment Officer at Snapdeal, the statement said.

He will also join the Board of Directors of FreeCharge, it said.

Most recently, Kothari was CEO of Softbank-backed online real estate company Housing.com, where he led the successful turnaround of the company from a position of distress to a market leader in one-and-a half years using organic and inorganic growth, the statement said.

Prior to joining Housing.com, Kothari was CEO and Vice Chairman of character-based entertainment company Valiant Entertainment.

Kothari said the digital payments space in India is forecasted to be over $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 65,39,812 crores) by 2025.

"I am excited to join the talented team at FreeCharge at such a high-growth and dynamic time in the industry and expect FreeCharge to continue to play a key role in this digital payments revolution," he said.